Project for Excellence in Journalism

Blogs Debate, Tweets Celebrate

October 21, 2010

The home mortgage crisis, fueled recently by charges of fraudulent foreclosure procedures, triggered angry reactions aimed at multiple culprits from bloggers of all political stripes last week.

For the week of Oct. 11-15, fully 22% of the news links on blogs were about economic issues, with the vast majority focused on the housing market. That made it the No. 1 subject on blogs, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Many bloggers aimed their disgust at the banks for their lending practices while others blamed people who obtained mortgages they could not afford. Some, particularly real estate agents, also used their blogs to provide information to those who are buying or selling a foreclosed property.

Bloggers have spotlighted the mortgage situation before. Three weeks earlier, an article accusing some of the nation's largest mortgage companies of using a single document processor to sign off on foreclosures without having read the paperwork was the No. 5 subject, at 6% of the links.

The No. 2 story last week, also receiving 22% of the links, was a controversial column by professor Jerry A. Coyne from the University of Chicago which appeared in the Oct. 11 USA Today. Coyne argued that science and faith cannot coexist because each is based on foundations that have irreconcilable differences.

"In the end," Coyne wrote, "science is no more compatible with religion than with other superstitions, such as leprechauns."

Bloggers' reaction to the piece was mixed, as both supporters of Coyne's view and opponents weighed in. Those who agreed appreciated the directness of his piece while critics claimed that Coyne did not understand the nature of religion.

Religion was also a major topic for bloggers two weeks ago, as they focused on a Pew Research Center survey showing that atheists and agnostics were more knowledgeable about religion than followers of major faiths.

The third biggest topic on blogs, at 18%, involved education, with a heavy emphasis on outgoing Washington, D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, who recently resigned in the wake of Mayor Adrian Fenty's defeat in the Democratic primary. Two stories drew attention. One was a Washington Post article about Rhee's resignation and the other was a manifesto by Rhee and other school leaders suggesting ways to reform American education that involved giving teachers more flexibility and changing the notions of tenure.

A Los Angeles Times story about the city's first ever CicLAvia event which, for several hours, turned some of Hollywood's most-trafficked streets into a pathway for pedestrians and bicyclists, was fourth at 9%.

One good-news story that generated major attention in the mainstream media was also a big topic in the online world last week. The Oct. 13 rescue of 33 Chilean miners who had been trapped underground for 69 days was the No. 5 story on blogs (9%). And it dominated among Twitter users, accounting for more than one-third (37%) of the news links.

Twitterers shared images of the rescue -- including a photo collection on Boston.com of the dramatic rescues and reuniting of families -- and a link to a live video feed from CNN.com (which is no longer active). As with bloggers, Twitterers offered real-time reactions to the dramatic events.

"To cheers and applause, the last rescue worker exits the capsule that brought all 33 miners safely home," tweeted many users.

"Amazing Inspiring Heart Touching Pictures from the Chile Miners," added Sheikh M Shariq. "Glad to see the Smiles everywhere."*

The rest of the top stories on Twitter were all technology-focused.

Second, at 12%, were two stories about Apple on Mashable. One was the news that the company had filed a trademark application for the phrase, "There's an app for that," while the other was an article about a British jeweler who created a diamond-clad iPhone with a price tag of roughly $8 million.

New features for Facebook were third at 11%, including news that the site had released an option for users to utilize one-time passwords as a security measure on public computers, and speculation that Facebook would soon be adding more options to its communication features including threaded comments and voting.

The No. 4 story, with 7% of the links, involved Twitter itself. A Toronto-based social media analytics company named Sysomos analyzed 1.2 billion tweets over two months and concluded that 71% of them generated no reaction, such as retweets or replies.

And a story and video about Microsoft Windows' first press release in 1985 was the fifth most linked-to subject at 6%.

"Windows provides unprecedented power to users today and a foundation for hardware and software advancements of the next few years," declared Microsoft chairman Bill Gates at the time. "It is unique software designed for the serious PC user, who places high value on the productivity that a personal computer can bring."

Continue reading the full report at journalism.org.

_{*For the sake of authenticity, PEJ has a policy of not correcting misspellings or grammatical errors that appear in direct quotes from blog postings.}